Why Trans Activist Jack Knoxville is Fighting to Protect Your Rights

They just can’t help themselves. Two days ago, the communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) criticized Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate (and current Secretary of State) Alison Lundergan Grimes, calling her an “empty dress.”

As part of Obamacare, all states have the option to expand Medicaid with the federal government financing almost all of the costs of covering newly eligible individuals. If the states accept those federal funds, they will not have to pay anything for the first three years, and even after that, they will pay only a fraction of the costs to cover hardworking families.

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Defenders are a core group of supporters who have said they'll give their time to defend Planned Parenthood, the health services they provide, and the people who rely on them — in what just may be the fight of our lives.

Enough already! That’s been my response to story after story of state legislatures voting to restrict reproductive health access across America. Texas. North Carolina, Wisconsin, Indiana, Arizona, Ohio, and the list goes on. There’s no doubt we’re under siege, but it doesn't have to be that way.

At a campaign event, Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli was asked if, as governor, would he "support and sign personhood legislation that contains restrictions on birth control medication and birth control devices."

Not on my watch. Perhaps each generation is called on to safeguard the freedoms, peace, and opportunity of the generation before and advance justice just a little further in their own lifetime. I recall listening as my parents – children of the 1960s – spoke proudly, passionately, and frequently of their participation in the civil rights era. In some ways it never fully sank in until now.

This Women’s Equality Day—the 93rd anniversary of women in the U.S. gaining the right to vote with the certification of the 19th Amendment—Dawn Laguens of Planned Parenthood Federation of America joined Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI), Terry O’Neil of the National Organization for Women, and Fatima Goss-Graves from the National Women’s Law Center to discuss the current state of women’s rights and equality in the U.S.

Missouri State Representative Paul Wieland (R-Imperial) recently filed a federal lawsuit suit asking the court to declare the mandate for contraception coverage in Obamacare unconstitutional. More specifically, he’s looking for a personal exemption for his family (the fact that Wieland is a man, who would probably find little use for birth control, is apparently beside the point).

Texas Senator Ted Cruz would rather spread intentionally misleading information, deny millions of people health care, and even shut down the government, than put aside his political agenda. So how is he spending the congressional recess? “My focus for the next 61 days is very directly targeted to one thing, and that is working to defund Obamacare.” If that doesn’t qualify him as the Gynotician of the Week, then we don’t know what else would.

On Monday, women’s health had another victory in the courts, this time in Oklahoma. A judge temporarily blocked a new law that would have prevented women from accessing emergency contraception over the counter.